Chippendale New World Art Prize, 8 - 24 May 2014

I'm one of the finalists in the 2014 Chippendale New World Art Prize, opening Thursday 8th May 6-8pm. The selected artworks all respond to the theme of Utopia, individual perceptions and interpretations of a 'New World'.

Chippendale New World Art Prize invitation

Philanthropist and Chairman of Frasers Property Australia Dr Stanley Quek will announce the winner at 7pm. Judged by Archibald Winner Del Kathryn Barton and Dean and Director of COFA Ross Harley, the prize is a three month residency grant at Joya:arte+ecologĂ­a in Spain.

The exhibition will span three locations: NG Art Gallery; L1 Central Pop Up Gallery; Carlton Street, Park Lane Pop-Up Gallery. www.chippendalecreative.com/2014-chippendale-new-world-art-prize-finalists

Chippendale New World Art Prize map of locations and artists

My entry, Whisper conjures a yearning for continuous serenity, which can sometimes be found - only momentarily - in the quiet contemplation of nature. This self-contained intimate installation features a dissected clay vessel containing video footage of water flowing slowly past a tranquil riverbank, reflecting the trees and sky above. Externally this dull brown clay object is as unremarkable as the mythical genie’s bottle, camouflaged as everyday clutter and quickly dismissed by a casual passer-by. But projected within the vessel there is a continuous moment of quiet mediative contemplation, an idyllic notion of Utopia where one is able to attain this human desire to be at one with nature. Whisper’s hand-made, hand-sized receptacle lends a personal embodied notion of physically touching and holding this particular moment of engagement with the natural world. The video’s looped repetition takes this moment out of the flux and flow of time as we usually experience it. Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, said that you can never step in the same river twice, yet thousands of years later we still continue to aspire to pause the passage of time and search for a permanent state of perfection.

Kath Fries, Whisper, 2014
you can view the video component on line vimeo.com/92002590

Whisper will be exhibited at Carlton Street Park Lane Pop-Up Gallery, 8 - 24 May, as part of the Chippendale New World Art Prize.